working on some rusty spinners 18 and 20's. looking for tips on tying in the single fibre split tails. have read the books and looked at some videos. been to the fly shop. gotten some good info, but it always seems that this forum is the best place for help. so if any of you folks have a special method for this procedure i would really appreciate some help.

The dubbing ball often suggested for splitting tails never really worked for me. There are 3 "tricks" to Charlie's method, which relies on a long tag of thread, or a separate loop of thread to split tails:

Mounting the fibers- by laying the fibers on top of the shank with the butts pointing to the shoulder of your tying hand. Thread torque should pull them up into place on top of the shank.

Using your thumb nail of your off hand to come up and behind the tails and crimp up the tails behind the tie in point to prop them up and apart. Once you do this they should stay up and apart by themselves and be easy to lock into place with the tag end of thread (or loop of thread).

Using either a single long tag end of thread for 2 tails, or a loop of thread for 3 tails (coming up with the tag ends of the loop between the two outside tails and straddling the middle) and pulling tight to split the tails and lock them in place. You may have to wiggle the tag or strands of the loop around a bit to get them in place. then take a couple of wraps over tag (or tag ends of the loop) of thread and draw the tag or tag ends of the loop tight to lock them in place.

Note also that on spinner tails, as opposed to duns, the tail proportion is a bit longer at 1 1/2 x length of shank. (Most dun tails would be 1x shank length).

BTW, Charlie's book, Basic Fly Tying is excellent. He goes into very clear and detailed explanations for his tying steps. There's tons of info in there for experienced tyers as well as those just starting out.

I'm assuming we 're talking about using microfibbets.....Another way is to
. tie in the tails on the very top of the bare hook shank with the last tie in wrap right where the hook starts to bend.
. Bring the tieing thread under the tails,between the tails & the hook shank.pull forward raising the tailing fibers up slightly & wrap the thread around the hook twice.
. Using a dubbing needle split the tails & bring the thread up around the hook shank & down between the shank & far tail fiber pulling slightly forward to spread the tail and wrap once more.
. Bring up the thread between the near tail fiber & the hook shank again pulling slightly forward & wrap one more time over the whole tail.
.. complete the fly
This sounds a lot harder than it actually is. , Actually it's harder to explain how to do it than to actually do it. For small flies & 8-0 thread it works.. It might take a little practice to get it to where it's automatic but it will come.
I'll try to put together a photo how to sequence

thanks for all the tips. i messed with about all the methods you guys suggested. i have charley's book and do my best to make his shop the most profitable in colorado!! rick takahashi took a few minutes and showed me his techniques for split tails. watched leroy hyatt and a few others tie the split tails. got more info than my pea brain could process. i ended up using a combo of several of the things i learned. a small thread bump(twist thread tightly and use 3 or 4 wraps (18 and smaller). 4 micro fibbets. long thread tag pulled forward and used to control the split. thumbnail lift. when tails are just right a small drop(teeny) of loons uv clear fly finish placed right at the split and hit with the light. after about 25 flies i finally got the hang of it. thanks again